Baseline study on the quantity, composition and density of plastic from the sea-bed associated with trawling grounds in Kuala Pahang, Malaysia

Abstract

There is very limited information regarding plastic pollution on the sea-bed especially in Malaysia since substantial cost and resources are required to undertake such studies. Thus, in the recent trawl survey to determine the nursery grounds and species composition of sharks and rays at Kuala Pahang, Pahang, East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, an added activity on the quantification of plastic materials trapped in the trawl net was implemented. This paper presents the quantity, composition and density of macro-plastic from the sea-bed of Kuala Pahang, conducted during the monsoon period using Monsoon Season Trawl Net at nine pre-determined stations. At each station, trawl was conducted approximately 0.75-1.48 km from the coastline for about an hour with a trawling distance of around 3.15 km. Plastic materials collected at each station were categorized into five groups; bags, bottles, fishing gears, household items and others. All plastics were weighed in wet and dry conditions. ‘Plastic bags’ was the most abundant material collected in this study with the highest weight of 2.844 kg followed by ‘bottles’ (0.602 kg), ‘household items’ (0.37 kg), ‘fishing gears’ (0.25 kg) and ‘others’ (0.183 kg). The stations with the highest ‘plastic bags’ contents were Station 3 (0.943 kg) followed by Station 1 (0.668 kg) and Station 2 (0.546 kg). The overall density of plastic observed in the present study was 146.52 kg/km² comprising of plastic bags (98.07 kg/km²), bottles (20.76 kg/km²), household items (12.76 kg/km²), fishing gears (8.62 kg/km²) and others (6.31 kg/km²).